The Devil in Disguise
by Thea-Zara
Summary: Stiles experienced one of Kate Argent's least favorite memories. Now Stiles and his pack have to question the past they thought they knew, and what the future will bring, all while dealing with the Alpha Pack's kanima questions and unraveling Gerard Argent's plans. Number 3 in the Devils Series.
1. Chapter 1

Gerard Argent had been dead less than twelve hours, and Stiles desperately wanted to resurrect the bastard, just so he could have the pleasure of killing the sick son of a bitch himself, and then maybe revive him once more, just so that Derek could have a go at the monster who had engineered so much of the awful stuff he'd endured. God help Gerard if he did manage to bring himself back again. Stiles would make sure justice was served in abundance. Until then, Stiles would have to try and clean up the messes one evil man had managed to leave in their lives.

He had left his mates; one still recovering from the previous night's bullet wound, and the other worried and very, very confused, by his ridiculous excuse for leaving. He had dreamed of _her_, of the woman who'd stolen his body, who'd possessed him and left her foul memories in his head. He'd remembered what might be the worst crime of her awful, spiteful life. She'd stolen Derek's family from him, not once, but twice, and done it both times on Gerard's orders. He had to put things right, but until he knew, really knew for sure, he couldn't say anything to Derek. After everything he'd endured, this might be the final straw, if it went wrong.

Stiles had been wracking his brains, trying like Hell to trigger another memory, to find out what had happened, but there was nothing there, only the one haunting memory of those eyes. Leave it to Kate to be contrary as possible, as unhelpful, even when it was only her memories. He needed help, and the only person left who might help him was now fifty percent more likely to tell him to go fuck himself.

Still, he had to try. That's why he found himself banging on a familiar door at nine in the morning. He could tell by the polite look, it was Chris who'd answered the door, instead of Victoria. "We need to talk about Kate. I know _she's_ here too, and I don't... no after everything I just can't trust her, so if possible can she just stay out of this?"

Chris took one look at him and nodded. "I understand and I'll keep her out of this as much as possible. Come on in. You want some coffee or juice?"

Stiles followed and nodded. "Yeah, some juice if that's okay. I always avoided coffee, you know, before. I'm fairly sure the one time I tried it the consensus was to compare me to a rabid squirrel on speed, so I never really got a chance to get a taste for it." Stiles knew he was rambling, but it was familiar, and let him calm down a little. Chris handed him a glass of juice and they both sat down.

"So what did you want to discuss, Stiles?" Chris asked, looking at Stiles curiously.

"You know she was well, possessing me for want of a better word." Stiles started. "I don't know if it's the way the spell is supposed to work, if it's because of how I pushed her out or if it's just some strange wrinkle in the whole damned mess, but I have a lot, if not all of Kate's memories."

Chris was more than a little stunned by the revelation. "You still have her in your head?"

"No! Thank God. No, it's like, it's like having a box full of someone's home movies, except these home movies are like super High Def, or like the Holodeck or something. I get the whole surround sound deal with bonus fucked up thought processes. And all those home movies? They just occasionally start playing on their own."

"So you're saying you're having something like memory attacks?" Chris had shifted over to all business and seemed to be analyzing the problem.

"Something like that, I mean the the thing is I'm remembering her baggage. I remember people she was with, like that hunter last night the one with the hand issue? Kate was screwing him and messing with his head before she died. Hell, that's probably why he was so keen to shoot Derek."

Stiles looked up then to catch the pained, and slightly nauseated, expression on Chris's face before he quickly blanked it out. "Ugh, sorry man, I didn't mean to bring up family sex lives, not really, but there are things I need to know that sort of involve that, but I promise no details if I can possibly help it."

Chris was giving him that 'You idiot' look Stiles had been used to seeing aimed at himself for almost a decade, and any other time he'd probably protest, but yeah he'd just brought up the dead sister's sex life... he'd probably earned the look ten times over with that little gem. "Here's the thing; While Kate was actively in my head I got a lot of access. I thought I knew all the shit she'd done, when it came to Derek. I mean you get that he was barely sixteen right? And she was twenty-two? And she didn't exactly play fair when it came to attracting him, either. She used some sort of pheromones."

"Wait... Kate and Derek?" Chris half stood, arms braced on the table top. He looked quite a bit more nauseated now than he had a few moments ago. "He was just a kid; younger than Allison."

"I thought you knew. I'm sorry." Stiles said, honestly sorry, because he could see just how angry and sick Chris was over what he'd just learned.

"She... he was a child. How could she?" Chris looked lost, like somehow this last wrong topped the murder and the arson and the lies. Stiles wasn't sure he disagreed, honestly.

"From what I can tell, there's more. Things I just remembered. I was dreaming, but once I woke up I knew this was a memory, not just some random dream, and I need answers."

"What did you remember?" Chris asked clearly bracing himself for the worst.

"The birth of Kate's daughter."

TDID*TDID*TDID

Derek had woken up to something like panic or shock from Stiles. He'd tried to offer comfort or at least understand what was wrong, but stiles had pulled back, pulled away as if he didn't want Derek to touch him. Instead Stiles had jerked out of bed and threw on clothes, babbling about having an appointment, before rushing out the door, leaving Derek behind, one arm protectively wrapped around Isaac, and horribly confused.

Isaac woke up just then and turned to face Derek before cuddling into his chest. After a moment or two there was a muffled. "Are you okay?"

Derek wasn't quite sure how to answer that, not entirely, but there was one thing he desperately wanted to get crystal clear. "Isaac, so help me, if you ever pull something like that again..."

He trailed off as the curly head shifted and two dark amber eyes glowed up at him. "I couldn't not, Derek. Even if we weren't together, I still would have. Besides, it was aimed right for your heart. If I hadn't taken the hit, you'd be dead, and there is no way I'll ever just sit back and let that happen." He had started off speaking softly, but by the end he was growling and pushing at Derek's chest to emphasize his point.

"I can't let you do something like that for me Isaac. I can't be responsible for another member of my family dying." Derek stopped speaking, words abandoning him in the shock of the secret he'd let out. His first two panicked thoughts were wondering how close Peter was, and how Isaac would feel when he really understood what Derek had done, what he'd let Kate do.

Isaac had his head tilted now as he leaned back, looking at Derek as he gathered his thoughts on how to continue. "You know, even after I found out it was Matt and the kanima, I sort of blamed myself for what happened to my dad, right? I mean at the end, he was... he was wrong, I guess is the word. Something twisted up in side of him, and he did things he wouldn't have ever done before Cam died, and I hated him for those things. But he wasn't always like that, and after everything, I would always wonder, if maybe I'd have stood up to him, instead of running... If maybe I'd have tried to make him see how wrong he'd become, once I was strong enough, instead of forcing him to come chasing after me in the dark and the rain, the kanima might not have gone after him first, and maybe I could have fixed him, somehow. I mean as a wolf, I'm stronger and faster, and I made first line. You know, all the things he was punishing me for not being. So maybe since I was more of those things, he would have stopped."

"Your dad was wrong about you, and wrong for what he did. I know you still love him, but what happened to him was absolutely not your fault." Derek said pulling Isaac back into a hug.

"Then neither is what happened to your family, Derek."

Derek pulled away then. "You don't understand; It's not the same thing, at all. I-" Derek jerked away and snapped his mouth closed. Peter was standing in the doorway, looking at him with a frown.

"You were still just a kid, and you thought you loved her. That makes you human, not responsible. She already knew what we were, where we were, it honestly wasn't some secret she needed to screw out of you, so no matter what secrets you think you gave away, your pillow talk didn't cause the fire."

Derek didn't know how to respond, so he just pulled Isaac closer.

TDID*TDID*TDID

"You're just now remembering Kate's daughter?" Chris asked, his stance shifting to one of sympathy. "I know you said you have her memories and her thoughts when you experience them, but you're a smart kid, Stiles. You might feel like Kate's little girl is yours, but you know she isn't, right? You're just remembering all the love Kate had for her, that's all."

"No, Chris, you're wrong, so damned wrong." Stiles said, getting more upset.

"Now that you know about her, the memories are probably flooding in, with all the love she had for her daughter. It has to be overwhelming, but she's not your daughter, and she won't remember you at all, Stiles. You can't just take over Kate's feelings for her. It isn't right."

Stiles was glaring at Chris now, eyes shifting green with his emotions, but that was the only indication. "You really don't understand, Chris. I bet when you think of Allison you have flashes of memories of her from her entire life. The first time you held her, the first time she called you daddy, and knowing you the first time she held a bow, and you remember all the love and the hopes you have for her, right?"

Chris nodded.

"You know, I have similar feelings in here," Stiles tapped his head with a finger. "for Allison. I remember the first time Kate held her, and how amazed she was with her. I remember her pride for what Allison would become, even though the Stiles part of me thinks its sick, the way she wanted to mold her into a hunter, THE hunter, the next great Argent. Through the pride and the plans, Kate loved Allison, and no matter how much I hate the woman I can't say otherwise. She broke through her own arrogant pride for one moment in her life, and that was to bend to Peter Hale, to one of the monsters, to try and save Allison's life. Every memory I have of hers regarding Allison is filled with Kate's love for your daughter, and that is what makes this so fucking sick and horrible."

"What do you mean," Chris asked, eyes drifting upwards towards where Allison's room was in the house.

"Oh, shit no, not anything like that." Stiles said quickly, holding up his hand. "No, I what I meant was the memories I have of her daughter. I remember giving birth. I remember wanting this 'thing' out of me." Chris opened his mouth to speak then, probably with some scary anecdote about Victoria during Allison's birth, but Stiles just ignored him and continued. "I remember only going through with the pregnancy because Gerard asked me to. And, I remember fighting the urge to drowned the thing I gave birth to like some sort of unwanted puppy, because to Kate that's exactly what she was."

"If this is some bullshit about how much Kate left her daughter alone so she could hunt..." Victoria slammed forward, deciding Stiles was being some sort of misogynistic jerk.

"I'm not talking about her leaving her daughter, I'm talking about how fast she rushed to get away from 'the mongrel' because THAT is exactly how she thought of the baby. And before you suggest it, this wasn't some sort of 'postpartum' bullshit, either."

Victoria's sneer, even on Chris's face was intense.

"What I remember is Gerard sending Kate to Beacon Hills with certain orders. She drugged a boy into having sex with her, overloading his mind with pheromones and mixing up his senses until he thought he was in love with her, and then screwing him several different times until, once she was sure she was pregnant, she executed a plan that was meant to kill him and every member of his family. Thankfully she was less than successful. When she reported all this to Gerard he was furious, because there were survivors. He set things in motion to deal with the people she hadn't managed to kill, and then ordered Kate to have the baby, whether she wanted to or not."

Chris, or was it Victoria, whoever was in control of the body at the moment was in shock, by the stunned look on their face.

"I feel like I've lived through the entirety of her giving birth, and I felt her hatred and rage over the whole thing. I felt how much she loathed the thing inside herself, even as it was held up for her to see, her only thoughts were how much it looked like the _thing_ that sired it and just how much she wished she could kill it. There was not one drop of love for that child in Kate Argent. Not. One. Drop."

Victoria spoke again finally. "Well if it's just a matter of Kate's unwanted child, and you felt all she felt, why do you give a shit about her daughter? What does some random hunters kid matter to a werewolf?"

"Jesus, lady, are you really that dense? First off I would care anyway, because despite what you seem to think, I'm not a monster without feelings. And Second? Because that boy Kate basically raped? That was my fucking mate, and that makes that little girl a Hale and my pack."

Stiles had never heard anyone actually scoff in real life before, but that is exactly what Victoria Argent did by way of Chris's body. "So we're just supposed to take your word for all this and just hand you an innocent child? And what, let you turn yet another Argent into one of the monsters?"

"And there is the answer to my question; Yes, you really _are_ that dense. She is most likely already a wolf, idiot. Werewolf genes are dominant and while it's possible she's fully human, she's still Derek's daughter. If you've ever looked at her damned eyes you would recognize that fact."

Chris seemed to recognize that Victoria was about to explode, so he jumped back into control of their body. "I'm sure we can work this out without all the fighting. Since Kate died, and probably a lot longer if what your saying is true, Gerard had a full time nanny. I didn't want to make any changes in her living situation until things were more settled, since it was still so dangerous, so until we knew for sure Gerard was dead I just kept the nanny on to keep Talia safe and out of this whole mess."

Chris got a strange look on his face, then as if realizing something. "Her name." He said, rubbing a hand down his face. "I never even thought, until now." He looked at Stiles, who was just confused. "Her name is Talia. That was Derek and Laura's mother's name. What the Hell kind of game was Gerard playing?"

"A long and very freaking convoluted one." Stiles said, putting his head in his hands for a moment or two before speaking.

"Why push Kate to have a child, particularly one with a high probability of being one of the things we were raised to hunt?" Chris asked, confused.

"The same reason most of the world does anything shitty: money, revenge, pure sick-fuckery? I don't know which was the highest priority for Gerard, but money was definitely a factor."

"How do you know?" Chris asked, curiously.

"Well, for starters, the woman Gerard hired to be a midwife for Kate? That was Peter's long term nurse, and the bitch who lured Laura Hale back to Beacon Hills to die."


	2. Chapter 2

Allison hated mornings anymore. She never used to hate them. Hell, she used to creep people out because she woke up like some Disney princess. Well, minus the helpful mice or woodland creatures. Knowing her family, any sketchily helpful animals would end up slaughtered, plucked and served up by her mom for breakfast.

And that, right there was why she hated mornings now; The sudden solid punch to the chest when she thought of her mom and suddenly remembered all over again that she was gone. Once she had remembered she still got caught out by it, but for some reason that first realization of the day was the worst, the hardest to deal with.

She tried to push it all away and climbed out of bed. She was heading for the bathroom when she heard someone banging on the front door. She was just heading in that direction when she heard her dad answer the door.

She started moving again, intending to go see just who it was when she heard Stiles talking. "We need to talk about Kate. I know she's here too, and I don't... no after everything I just can't trust her, so if possible can she just stay out of this?"

Allison froze in shock. Intellectually, she knew just how horribly far she'd fallen thanks to her grief and Gerard's manipulations, but to hear Stiles of all people talk about her with that level of malice was just... sobering to say the least. Stiles had thrown himself into trouble to help her and Scott over and over, had dashed from one end of the school to the other carrying forbidden messages for them. He'd fought at her side against Kanima, wolves and hunters alike, and now, he didn't trust her... now he sounded like he hated her. She didn't know how to wrap her mind around that.

It was strange, but she didn't just find a boyfriend when she found Scott. She found this quirky, strange, almost little brother in Stiles. She wasn't attracted to him in the normal guy way, not that she didn't think he was attractive, but it was like he slipped into being her brother too, just like he was Scott's. She knew Stiles was ruthless when he was protecting those he cared about. He could be loud and brash, but if you were one of his people, his friends or family, he would go through Hell for you. She remembered quite clearly the moment he told her to shoot Derek in the head. Somehow only a few weeks later, if the way he'd just spoken about her was any indication, he'd have been telling Derek to go for iher/i throat instead.

She closed her eyes and forced away the image of Kate's last moments that thought had triggered, and then, as if conjured by the thought very thought of her, she heard Stiles speaking again from the kitchen. "... I have a lot, if not all of Kate's memories."

It just wasn't in Allison to stop listening at that point. She crept silently closer and settled in to listen, and what she heard was insane. How and why did Stiles have her aunt's memories? How could Kate not love little Talia and how could she do that to Derek... with Derek? She had known what he was and he had only been a kid still. Oh God, the way Kate had talked to her about Jackson and Scott... she'd thought Kate was being a cool aunt but that was... that was just sick and gross and made her feel like she was dirty by association.

Allison sat there and listened hand over her mouth as she became more and more confused and nauseated over everything she was hearing. The things Stiles was telling her father were bad enough, but on top of that was the strange way Stiles was talking to her dad and the strange shifts in her dad's demeanor as he replied. He was going from calm and reasonable to vicious and cutting... and Stiles seemed to just go with it, like he expected it.

She tried to push all that aside and listen to the things Stiles was revealing. Each new thing added to the whole mountain of weirdness that was apparently her life now. Stiles was talking about a nurse now; someone who worked for both Gerard and Peter, which didn't quite make sense. She tried to remember all the things Scott had finally told her after Peter had killed Kate, but she couldn't think of anything about a nurse. Not specifically anyway, but he had been in long term care, for six years. Surely he'd had a nurse, and if that nurse worked for Gerard?

Allison jerked backwards as her mind made the connections. Something had brought Derek's sister back to Beacon Hills, and someone had set all of this in motion. She actually growled as she realized once again how badly Gerard had screwed everyone over.

Her frustration gave her away though, and between one moment and the next, Stiles was suddenly just there in front of her and led her into the kitchen, where her father was glaring at him, and at where his hand was on her arm.

"Must you monsters drag her into everything?" Her dad said snidely.

"You don't want to start on just who the monsters around here are, lady." Stiles snarled back. Both of them froze a moment before almost as one Stiles and her dad cringed and looked at her.

Allison looked back at them with one eyebrow raised, confused beyond reason, but determined to stand her ground.

Stiles was clearly trying to come up with some sort of excuse for his comment, while her dad was... just what the Hell WAS her dad doing? His face seemed to shift from a sneer to a sort of 'Let's all be calm' look and back to a sneer again in less than twenty seconds.

"Drag Queens!" Stiles burst out, before he took on a more intense 'Oh shit' look, and began backpedaling and explaining, in a manner she'd come to associate with his often hilarious efforts toward the worst subterfuge ever. "So like there's this drag queen me and Scott met while we were looking for the kanima at Jungle. You might remember her from Lydia's party, she really helped get the party rolling, you know before the drugged punch made us all hallucinate like whoa, right. So anyway your uh dad, he kind of looks like her when she's not in drag and I'm used to calling her her that it uh kind of just slipped."

If her emotions weren't already going six ways to Sunday she'd squish his precious cheeks for that panicked attempt at bullshitting. That and the look on her dad's face at being compared to a drag queen.

Instead of commenting on the drag queen comparison, her dad latched onto another part of Stiles' babble. "Drugged punch?"

"Uh, yeah, from what we can tell, there was some form of wolfsbane flowers in the punch. No one realized, and people had some strange hallucinations, but it went away pretty quick and the cops broke up the party." Stiles explained quickly, tone back to polite towards her dad.

"Were you affected by it?" He asked, quickly checking Allison's eyes, like she'd just taken something.

"I'm fine." She said, trying to smile reassuringly, until her Dad's demeanor shifted again.

"This is all down to your kind," He hissed at Stiles. "some sort of heathen ritual to steal energy and raise that murderer back from the dead."

"Like wolves have the market on coming back from the dead, iChris/i." Stiles hissed at her dad, his voice stressing her dad's name for some strange reason. "I was there that night, and I know just how shitty it was, but there is clearly a lot more going on that lead up to that whole mess, so if you want to start pinning blame, we're going to need to follow the cause and effect back to the people who are responsible."

"Just what is that supposed to mean?" Her dad hissed at Stiles.

"It means, we didn't pay much attention to nurse Crazy, since she was dead and all. We assumed Peter put her up to it, but no one ever asked him back then. We all just assumed he woke up crazy, and he did, but he didn't heal until AFTER he became an Alpha. He doesn't even remember killing Laura. So that bitch was the one who set everything in motion to lure Laura home, and then setting her up to be killed by a feral and still out of it Peter Hale. All under orders from Gerard."

"All lovely speculation, I'm sure."

"Laura was cut in half. Wolves don't kill that way, not that neatly. Peter was out of it enough to strike a killing blow, but someone, some hunter, made sure she wasn't coming back. Kate didn't know anything about it, and you didn't do it, so that leaves the nurse Gerard arranged for him, the woman who put all the puzzle pieces out there to lure Laura in. Someone who had the means and the motive to drug Peter. I'm sure they didn't expect him to heal as quickly as he did, to know who to blame for murdering his family, and to start taking revenge."

"Of course, revenge. Anything to sugar coat an insane killing spree." Her dad said while glaring at Stiles.

"You know, while I'm not even about to attempt to justify his actions, I find it interesting that the number of innocent bystanders Peter went after was quite a bit lower than either Gerard's and Kate's. Now let me think what were their motives again? Oh yes greed and bigotry. A fine sugar coating on those motives."

Allison glared at both of them. "What the Hell is wrong with you two?"

Once again they shared a guilty glance before both started talking.

"Now Allison-"

"What could be-"

"Enough bullshit! Something is going on with you two, beyond this stupid freaking argument. What is going on?"

"Look, if you don't tell her I will, cause it's all kinds of stupid for her not to know." Stiles said, not looking at Allison.

"This is none of your business!" Her dad hissed at him, glaring.

"Yes it is because I've been, Hell, I'm still exactly where she is. Don't be a moron. She loves you, and not taking this amazing opportunity is just... if I had a chance for something like this. You need to tell her. I'd offer to leave for this, but we have more crap we need to work out so spit it out already, or I will."

Her dad looked like he had swallowed a lemon before he turned to Allison and looked her straight in the face. "There is something you need to know, and this is going to be strange. I..." He seemed to shrink on himself, and then something shifted and he was more in control. "Allison, what sh- er what I was trying to say... well it's about your mom. Gerard found a way for a wolf to share a body with a human host. At some point he used that on me."

Allison stared at him, confused and lost. Stiles groaned before sliding in next to Allison, something that made Victoria growl in Chris' head. "There is this whole ceremony, right, with a tattoo and some runes, and once that's been done, there is this other werewolf person in your head, sharing your body. There are ways to make the other person always in control, but luckily that isn't what was put on your dad. Basically your Mom is doing timeshare with your Dad."

Tears were filling Allison's eyes, but she just stared down at the counter, her face twisting up this way and that as she tried to come up with some kind of response to this. She didn't, couldn't even begin to comprehend exactly what they were saying. At least until her dad spoke again.

His voice was soft and hesitant and the tone was something she never heard from him before, but she had heard it. "Allison, I know this is a lot to take in, a lot to process, and if you don't want to... deal with anymore strangeness, don't want me here, we'll figure some way for me to leave. I don't want to hurt you in any way and I don't want to make this harder for you, if I can help it."

His hand had reached out for hers, but 'he' hadn't touched her yet; hand hovering, and then faltering as 'he' moved to pull away.

Allison practically leaped forward to take 'his' hand before looking up at her father's face. "Mom?"

Allison, Victoria and Chris spent a very teary twenty minutes reuniting without, Stiles noticed, Victoria explaining or apologizing for her final choices, but that wasn't really his business, so long as she didn't come after his mates or Scott again. They stayed in the kitchen and Stiles removed himself to the living room; far enough away to give them the illusion at least of privacy.

After the twenty or so minutes, the newly reunited family joined him. Allison's nose and eyes were blotchy and still fairly teary, but she was smiling softly, eyes always returning to her 'Mom'. Chris nodded at Stiles and then pulled out his cell and made a call.

"Claudia, this is Chris. I uh, have some bad news."

Stiles could hear the voice on the other end of the line. "What's happened?"

"It's uh, it's Gerard. He's had some health issues and well, he's dead. There were circumstances, so there won't be official word until we can manage something, but I was there, so we need to deal with everything. With Kate and now Gerard gone, I need to take over caring for Talia."

"Chris, I'm sorry to hear about Gerard, but he left me with some pretty specific instructions, and the main one was that under no circumstances should I let anyone take her to Beacon Hills."

"Claudia, I'm fairly sure I know why he left that instruction, but the point is no longer valid. Gerard betrayed me and this family. He tried to trade my daughter, our next rightful leader, to a wolf in order to get the bite to save himself from his illness. I want you to disregard any of his so called instructions and get Talia down here now."

"Chris there are things about Talia that..." She started before Chris cut her off.

"Let me guess, she's a werewolf." He said bluntly.

"How did you- It doesn't matter, she's just a little girl and she hasn't ever hurt anyone. You can't-"

Again Chris cut her off, a little more kindly this time. "Claudia, I have no intention whatsoever to hurt Talia, and if anyone else tries I'll very happily gut them slowly. I love her just as much as I love my own daughter and even if nothing else was going on, I'd want her here now with Gerard gone. There's more though. I know who her father is and after what this family has taken from him, he deserves the right to know his daughter."

There was a brief pause, as if she was judging his words before she replied. "If I just pack her the basics we can be in Beacon Hills tonight."

"Thank you, Claudia. We'll have rooms ready for both of you."

When Chris hung up the phone, Stiles collapsed onto the couch. "Oh shit, how do I even begin explaining this to Derek?" He asked, somewhat in shock now that the reality of it all rushed over him.

"A helium balloon bouquet that says 'It's a Girl'?" Allison asked, her eyes dancing in mirth.

With a bark of slightly hysterical laughter, he threw one of the couch pillows at her head.


	3. Chapter 3

Stiles slipped back into the depot, mind whirling away trying to figure out how to break this news to Derek, and to Isaac and Peter to a lesser extent. Chris had assured Stiles that they would call the minute Talia got there. Stiles didn't want to risk there being any sort of familiar Hale scent to the girl without warning the two wolves who would recognize it.

Peter was the first one he saw. He was working at his laptop on a makeshift desk. His nose wrinkled and he turned to glare at Stiles. "Really, Stiles?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

"I needed confirmation on something, and unfortunately Chris was the only source available."

Suddenly both Isaac and Derek were standing in the doorway of the subway car, both growling lightly.

"I was careful and made sure it was only Chris and Allison home... well them and Victoria I suppose, by the way Allison knows about her now. Funny story actually, I called Chris lady and then told Allison he reminded me of this cross-dresser I met at Jungle before I snitched about Vicky being in his head. Good times."

Isaac and Peter both smirked a bit in response, but Derek was giving him the raised eyebrow 'I question your sanity' look.

Stiles clapped his hands once before rubbing them together as he continued speaking. "Right, so Kate's memories. The gift that keeps on stabbing you in the kidneys, more or less. Some surfaced last night by way of a dream. Because it was a dream though, I wasn't positive about it and I had to be. Positive that is."

"Do you always do this?" Isaac asked head tilted.

"Do what?" Stiles asked, explanation derailed, at least temporarily.

"Get kind of flakey when explaining something you don't actually want to be explaining." Isaac said with a smirk.

"Um... possibly. Anywho, I uh managed to confirm that the dream was one of Kate's memories. Now, I would never ever drag up everything from her and the fire if it could be avoided, but this... well you need to know."

Peter spoke, standing up and walking towards Stiles. "I should probably mention that Derek knows I was aware of his relationship with _her_."

"There is so much more than even Derek knows. Gerard had some sick master plan. He sent Kate to seduce a Hale... by any means necessary. She wore a hemisphere and wolfsbane based perfume. She didn't want or need to get information out of you, Derek. The Argents knew about the Hales; they'd lived in peace for decades."

"So, uh, why go after the Hales at all?" Isaac asked, right before Peter followed with another question.

"And why seduce one of us?"

"From what I understand just in property alone, you guys were extremely well off. The Hales were an established pack well before the California Gold Rush, but that pushed your family from comfortable to well off. You bought up a huge area of land, but you didn't just hold onto the land, you made businesses and deals; You basically founded Beacon Hills. Your family invested in the community and in people. Those investments didn't always pay out, but more often than not, when they did, they payed out very well." Stiles stated, hiding his amusement at Peter's subtle preening over the history of their family.

"The Argents are an even older family and a powerful one, but over many long years their wealth has gone somewhat stagnant. They own property all over the world, but those are mainly safe houses and bolt holes. Their property isn't making money for them, by and large. The only reason Chris lives so well off is their fairly new practice of acting as arms dealers for both other hunters and law enforcement. They aren't exactly hurting for money, and yes, they could sell off even just a fraction of their worldwide properties and have a much improved financial outlook, but Gerard didn't want to do that."

"He had other ideas for increasing the Argent family coffers. When you look at a pack like the Hales, you have a tight knit and prosperous family. You also have an opportunity to remove that whole tight knit pack in one or two swift moves, while making it look accidental." Stiles said, grimly.

"So they swoop in and kill us all; That doesn't give the Argents access to the Hale Legacy." Peter said thoughtfully, watching Stiles. "We may have been tight knit, but there were cousins and in-laws. If we'd have all died they would have been scrambling to look for distant relatives to take over."

"Not if they had a not so distant relative ready and waiting to inherit." Stiles continued, eyes not meeting anyone else.

"A good theory, but there was no one else, unless you mean Derek and Laura, or myself, and I don't see how any of this would allow the Argents to step in." Derek was looking at Peter as he spoke, but had yet to comment on any of it, still locked onto the idea that Kate had drugged him.

"In Gerard's plan, none of you were meant to survive. He intended to use someone no one could object to; Someone he could control completely, his grandchild."

"Allison?" Isaac asked, confused.

"No, his other grandchild," Stiles said, quietly, eyes now locked on Derek. "Talia Hale-Argent."

Derek staggered back before Peter grabbed one hand and Isaac the other. After a moment or two of what could only be the beginnings of a panic attack, he looked back to Stiles and in a strained small voice asked, "Did he kill her?"

Stiles rushed forward, head shaking as he pulled Derek into a hug. "She's alive, Derek. She's alive and on her way here."

Derek's legs just stopped holding him up and when he dropped, they all dropped down around him. Stiles pulled him close and then told him what he knew. "She's pretty much been raised by a nanny, and can I say this is the one time I've ever been in favor of a child being raised by 'the help'." Stiles said with little hand quotes. "The nanny, Claudia something or other, knows she's a wolf and-"

"She's a wolf?" Peter asked, just as Derek was opening his mouth to do the same.

"The nanny was trying to work out how to tell Chris when he guessed. He had to reassure her he didn't care before she agreed to bring her here. Apparently Gerard had standing orders to keep her the Hell away from Beacon Hills."

"But she's coming here? Today?" Derek asked, his voice small, but oh so achingly hopeful.

"Once Chris convinced her to come, she said she could be here by tonight."

Derek had a moment of joy and then his features closed down. "What if she's not mine? It's not like Kate knew the meaning of the word loyal, and Gerard wasn't above trying to pass someone else's kid off as a Hale."

"Remember who's memories I have all up in this." Stiles said, tapping his own head. "I have no memory of Kate being with anyone else while she was with you; I mean, I can't swear to her not getting up to anything, I don't exactly have a good filing system going yet. However, _she_ believed the baby was yours. Oh, and I also saw the baby when she was born. The fact is that she has your beautiful eyes, that was how _I_ knew she was yours."

Derek leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Stiles and buried his now teary face against Stile's chest, while Peter and Isaac held him from either side. A small muffled "Thank you." was all he said for a very long while

They stayed like that for awhile, but eventually Stiles had more to say. Stiles waited until Derek pulled back and they all settled in a little more comfortably on the floor before he started talking again.

"Sooo, you two remember crazy nurse Jenny, right?" Stiles asked, uncomfortable, but needing Derek and Peter to know this.

"As loath as I am to recall that time in my life, Stiles, yes I remember my nurse. Derek killed her while trying to protect you, after all."

Derek winced, haunted by the news. Stiles quickly spoke again, hopefully to alleviate the guilt. "Good." He hissed savagely.

All three wolves turned to stare at him then.

"The bitch set Laura up to be killed, and set Peter up to do it. He sure as Hell wasn't up to running around Beacon Hills leaving cute little clues to lure her home. That had to be Gerard's work. He wanted a weak Alpha they could control. Get Gerard the bite, and then a comatose Alpha would be easy to do away with, plus he had the key to the Hale Inheritance tucked away, and killing Laura put them one step closer on both plans."

Both Peter and Derek looked ready to be sick. Isaac was holding on to Derek from the side and Stiles had one hand on Peter, helping him to keep upright, the other wrapped up in Derek's hands.

"I don't even think Peter killed her." Stiles said speculatively, causing both Hales to look up, one in shock and the other in desperate hope. "He didn't need to kill her to beat her and take the Alpha power, and his claws may be good but Laura? She was cut clean in half."

"Like with a sword?" Isaac asked, his eyes distant, as if remembering something.

Stiles nodded. "Peter needed a strong pack, why would he kill not only family, but such a strong wolf? All he needed to do was beat her." He patted the tattoo on Derek's back. "An Alpha can fall to a beta. Besides he was an older family member; All he needed to do was prove his dominance, and become her Alpha, and odds were Laura would have followed him. He did the same thing to Derek, until Derek believed he'd killed Laura. Peter was still healing. He wanted, no _needed_ a strong pack. But Gerard didn't want a strong Alpha, so Laura had to go."

Peter sat quietly, tears falling, with a look of forlorn hope. "How do you know she was the one?"

"Because Gerard used her before. She was Kate's midwife." Derek growled at the idea of her near his child.

"That doesn't necessarily mean she knew about wolves." Isaac said carefully, playing devil's advocate.

"Normally, yeah." Stiles agreed, before continuing. "Except, one of Kate's stray 'I'm giving birth' thoughts was about how Gerard had _suggested_ Jennifer because she knew all about wolves and wouldn't freak out if the baby popped out furry. Speaking of, is that really a thing, or was Kate just being racist... speciesist... er... a bitch?" He asked, looking up at Peter.

"Childbirth is natural and beautiful and all that," Peter said with the air of someone lecturing. "but, it's also painful and completely overwhelming to both the mother and the child. Plenty of lycanthrope mothers lose control and shift while giving birth, and more than a few babies come out at least partially shifted, but they're not really any danger to the mother, not even a human one, since they don't have teeth or much in the way of claws yet. Derek came out looking human, but I seem to recall Laura coming out looking more like a wolf pup." His voice was strained by the end, but he smiled at the happy memory.

"Talia didn't shift, but I'm fairly sure her eyes flashed once. Anyway, my point was that nurse wack-a-doodle was in the know and worked with, or at least, for Gerard. My secondary point was, bitch was crazy and at the very least nearly got me killed by Peter while she was still trying to control him. I mean I wasn't a wolf and I was nosy and in the way. There was no reason for you not to kill me at that point."

"You mean aside from how much that little key trick at the school impressed me? From the very moment I heard you insisting on getting a look at me, despite the fact that you were terrified, I knew I wanted you in my pack, Stiles." Both his mates growled at that. "Now, now; I had clearly become sane enough to ask instead of forcing it, thankfully. Someone as resourceful and stubborn as Stiles would have made sure I suffered before ensuring my death had I forced him to accept the bite, and somehow, I doubt there would have been enough left to resurrect."

Stiles smirked at him, while his two mate alternated between giving Peter shocked looks and Stiles proud ones.

"You're probably entirely right, Peter. The minute you would have tried to cut me off from my dad, like you first tried with Scott and his mom, well..." Stiles left off with an evil smirk, before climbing to his feet and offering one hand to Peter and the other to Derek.

Once both Hales were standing, he turned and pulled Isaac up and into a hug, one hand rubbing over where the bullet wound had been only the night before. He held out his free hand and pulled Derek into the hug, holding tight to his mates for a long minute, a slow happy sigh falling from his mouth.

Eventually, Stiles pulled back and shifted back into planning mode. "Okay, we have a lot of things to accomplish before tonight. Peter, how many bedrooms are in the old McMillian place? I know you mentioned a loft area, but we're probably going to need sleeping space for three adults, you, Melissa and hopefully, Dad, some kind of space for the betas if need be, and a bedroom for Talia, once we settle paternity and custody." Derek was starting to look panicked and more than a little in shock. "That's also something we need to keep in mind for rebuilding the house, too. We'll need room for the whole pack, and room for it to grow." Both Hales were now looking thoughtful and pleased at the idea of the pack growing in the future, although Derek still managed to look a little green with nerves.

Peter thought about it for a moment before he answered. "Aside from the loft area, there are four bedrooms in the main house and a small garage apartment we can easily use as another two or three bedrooms. The basement is also finished, but it's mostly a big rec room, with a bathroom and bar along one side."

"Perfect. We can use that space for the entire pack to hang out, and maybe double as sleeping space for them if need be. I don't trust that this whole thing with Gerard is over, not to mention whatever the Hell the Alpha Pack wants in Beacon Hills, so I want to try to keep as many of us close as possible. I know you guys said a couple days, but if possible I want us there tonight. We need to go see Dad today, and I'm sure you wanna check in with your... with Finstock, but could you see what you, and maybe Jackson, Danny and Lydia, can do to push things along today?"

"Of course, Stiles." He said and nodded before moving off to make arrangements.

"I know we have things to do, but..." Stiles started, before pulling both mates back towards their bed. "it's not even Noon yet, and I really just need to hold the two of you for a little bit." He barely finished speaking before he was picked up, by Derek and carried the rest of the way to their bed.

The kisses that followed were slow and gentle and just what the three of them needed.


End file.
